I'm just curious how many of you have watched the show "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet, and what yor opinions on the whole issue are.

VoodooWizardBuzzLeoT-BirdFirebirdProSF

"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the whole issue. While I don't necessarily condone what the Japanese do, the Sea Shepherds seem to approach it wrong. It kind of seems like Watson has a kind of messiah complex. You can also never really be sure of what exactly happens out there. Both sides always report very different details of events. The amount of whales they kill really is a tiny percent of the population. The confusion for me comes in at the point of does it violate whaling bans, or is it saved via a loophole? I would be curious to see what research is yielded form these results.

ChUcK wrote:Gateway doesn't use foil hotstamps. Dave Mac employs a neanderthal with a chisel and a loveless childhood.

riverboy wrote:The confusion for me comes in at the point of does it violate whaling bans, or is it saved via a loophole? I would be curious to see what research is yielded form these results.

It's my understanding that the Japanese have the strict letter of the law on their side. However, the law allowing them to do "research whaling" was writen in such a way as to be the exact same thing as commercial whaling, which has been banned. It has the appearance that the Japanese paid off the International Whaling Commision, or engaged in some other form of corruption. AFAIK, thee has been no useful scientific data produced by the Japanese whaling fleet.

VoodooWizardBuzzLeoT-BirdFirebirdProSF

"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Yeah, the ships are crewed by idealistic, stupid college kids who don't know wht the hell they're doing. One exception to this, however, is the helicopter pilot, Chris Aultman, a former Marine.

VoodooWizardBuzzLeoT-BirdFirebirdProSF

"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

I think it's great what they are doing. The Japanese have blatantly abused a loop hole in the commercial whaling ban. It does harm the population of the whales. The estimated population of the whales that the Japanese are hunting is extremely low, approx 2,300 - 4,500, and they are killing, up to 400 per year.I could understand letting them do their whaling if they were hunting one of the species of whale that has a population of over a million, but they are hunting the rare and exotic whale breeds. Some of the whales they are hunting are estimated to only be in the 100's for population and on the verge of extinction.

I think it's great what they are doing. The Japanese have blatantly abused a loop hole in the commercial whaling ban. It does harm the population of the whales. The estimated population of the whales that the Japanese are hunting is extremely low, approx 2,300 - 4,500, and they are killing, up to 400 per year.I could understand letting them do their whaling if they were hunting one of the species of whale that has a population of over a million, but they are hunting the rare and exotic whale breeds. Some of the whales they are hunting are estimated to only be in the 100's for population and on the verge of extinction.

Links please? I'd be interested in reading more of this.

ChUcK wrote:Gateway doesn't use foil hotstamps. Dave Mac employs a neanderthal with a chisel and a loveless childhood.

I don't have the exact info here on this computer, but I do know that the most common whales they (the Japanese) are hunting are the Blue Whale, the Gray Whale and the Minke Whale. I think the Japanese just recently added the Minke to their list , which has diminishing numbers.The Sea Shepherd Crew do have a lot of information on their website. http://www.seashepherd.org/They do a good job of documenting, and backing up their cause. Not to mention they are using their own vessels to help with the BP oil clean up too.They are good people.

I believe there is population numbers located at the International Whaling Commission website.

Fritz wrote:I don't have the exact info here on this computer, but I do know that the most common whales they (the Japanese) are hunting are the Blue Whale, the Gray Whale and the Minke Whale. I think the Japanese just recently added the Minke to their list , which has diminishing numbers.

The Japanese quit hunting the Blues under intense international pressure. They're mostly hunting Minkes, of which there's about 400,000 in the Southern Oceans.

VoodooWizardBuzzLeoT-BirdFirebirdProSF

"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Fritz wrote:I don't have the exact info here on this computer, but I do know that the most common whales they (the Japanese) are hunting are the Blue Whale, the Gray Whale and the Minke Whale. I think the Japanese just recently added the Minke to their list , which has diminishing numbers.

The Japanese quit hunting the Blues under intense international pressure. They're mostly hunting Minkes, of which there's about 400,000 in the Southern Oceans.

Glad to hear they stopped. One of the episodes I watched must have been older, cause it was a blue they were "doing research" on.

What the Japapnese are doing is clearly wrong and is detestable, but no one is going to enforce the law. Where are the international vessels boarding them to observe procedures? Better yet, where is an international rep on the processing ship who stays with the japanese fleet from start to finish? Can the international community not afford a couple guys' pay in order to save hundreds of whales a year?

So, with no enforcement, you have these eco-heroes who take it upon themselves to save the ocean life...on a shoestring budget and WOEFULLY ill-prepared. They are not a trained combat force, more like a bunch of boy scouts out there. In fact, I may be giving them far too much credit by comparing them to boy scouts. They barely know how to use their equipment or perform tasks that are crucial to their mission. Week after week, it blows my mind how inept and amatuerish the Sea Shepards are. I feel badly for them, because they are doing a job that needs to be done and no one else will do it.....but if I was paying my own money to fund their cause, I'd probably take my dollars back until I see that they can better manage their resources.